Lovely London It's nice to see you again

 

Wednesday  13 June 2012  - Lovely London we meet again

Day 62 and 97 to go

We didn’t hear Mary get ready for work and head out for work this morning. Unlucky her.

At 8.45am I finally surfaced. Chell was already up and busy gardening. The weather was quite pleasant. I could tell it would be a good day to spend wandering.

After having breakfast we gathered the things we needed and then Chell took us to the train station at 10.20am.  After 10 the trains are cheaper but it still cost us 23 pounds each for an all day ticket. I won’t complain about train prices at home ever again. 

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The trip to Kings Cross Station was a quick one as we were on an express and we pulled into London at 11.10. We found the info we needed before getting on the underground to the station nearest the British Museum.

We bought a map from a nearby shop before walking through the park and across to the entrance of the museum. It was great to be amongst the iconic sites and sights of London.

 

The British Museum is somewhere we both have never been to and it was awesome. We only stayed for a couple of hours, but you could easily spend a day or two. I would love to have this in Perth and take students through.

There is a terrific Egyptian exhibition, better than what is held at the Egyptian museum and here you can take photos to your heart’s content. There are also great Greek, Italian, Mesopatamian, Asian and North American exhibits. 

There is of course the Easter Island statue that is not as big as I expected.

With our fleeting meander completed we left the museum and walked the streets to head through Soho and on into China town. It was great to be able to wander the different streets as so many were still decorated with Union Jacks to celebrate the Jubilee. 

Once in China town we chose a Chinese restaurant and had dim sum for lunch. YUM!

With our bellies full we were out on the street again and heading to Piccadilly. We passed many theatres advertising the different musicals. There were so many I would love to go and see and so little time.

We emerged in Piccadilly Circus and went across to the Britannia Store where we had a wander around. I picked up a Paddington Bear that I have always wanted. While checking out all of the British STUFF. 

With the shopping complete we wandered down Piccadilly in search of the store Fortnum and Mason. It wasn’t far down the street and we entered the doors.  It is VERY fancy. I was here in search of one thing, a musical biscuit tin created to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Fortunately it was very easy to locate. We had a quick wander around including checking out the sweet counter that the Queen, Kate and Camilla visited earlier this year.

We wandered to The Mall and checked out where the people had come to see the queen last week. There was still a lot of cleaning up going on.  We wound our way to Trafalgar Square and then stopped for a drink at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, though Paul did not enjoy the London Glory he had.  

Our next point to head to was the London Eye. We walked over the bridge where we could take in the views of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the Eye.

We walked along South Bank dodging the crowds and getting closer to the Eye. Unfortunately the closer we got the clearer it became there was the longest queue. We did go in and check out the ticket office, but with a long queue there too we decided it just was not worth the wait and we continued to walk along the south bank. It was still lovely weather so the walk was enjoyable.  

We wandered back over another bridge. In the sky we could see the Goodyear blimp. We walked past the Houses of Parliament to Westminster Abbey and took a few pics of the outside. We then found another pub to have another drink and to have a rest before walking The Mall to Buckingham Palace.

We couldn’t walk all of the road as it was blocked off so we had to walk in the park. There were lots of deck chairs out and people using them to soak up the sun.  We eventually came back out on the road but we couldn’t get all the way to the gates of the palace as they were still cleaning up. So we crossed the road and walked through another park and on to Wellington Arch before wandering back up Piccadilly.

It was quite busy out on the streets as it was now 5.20pm and the workers were busy trying to make their way home.

By now we were beginning to tire and our feet were so sore. We were glad when we finally made it back to Soho. The pubs were packed with people watching the Euro so we decided to go back into China town and have Chinese for dinner. We chose the first one we saw found a spot and ordered the set menu for two. The meal was delicious and was served promptly. It was so nice to be off our feet. 

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At 7pm we walked around the corner to the Prince Edward Theatre to see the musical Jersey Boys the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. We were told by the security that the area we were to sit in had been closed and we had to go to the ticket office for our new seats. We were upgraded to the lower floor and in the centre of the theatre. Yippee.

With our programme in hand we made our way inside to our seats. We had a large work group sitting around us that were quite lively and made the evening fun and enjoyable, as they were happy to sing along.

The musical was excellent with great acting and terrific singing. Paul and I sang along to the different songs of the Four Seasons. It is a shame you can’t get up and dance around. I also enjoyed the storyline learning a bit more about how the group formed and what happened within the band and their own lives.

At 9.45pm we left the theatre still singing the songs. We made our way to the underground to Kings Cross and then onto the 10.30pm train for Hitchin that was still busy with commuters. I would not want that life.

We made it to Hitchin at 11.15pm. There were many workers doing the spruce up in readiness for the Queen’s visit tomorrow as she is arriving by train.

From the station we had to walk 30min back to Chell’s arriving home just before midnight. We had a bedtime hot chocolate before finally falling into bed.